Canberra's BMX star Caroline Buchanan is drawing on her own brother's remarkable recovery from a "nasty" spinal injury as the sporting community rallies behind Sam Willoughby.
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Willoughby had a horrific fall while training at his local track in California earlier this month.
He suffered fractures to his C6 and C7 vertebrae, severely compressing his spinal cord and leaving him with no movement below the chest.
Willoughby has since undergone spinal surgery and Buchanan is hopeful with the support of friends and family and the positive example of her brother, the Olympic Games silver medallist will walk again.
"My own brother, Sam Buchanan, actually had a nasty injury when we were growing up and he was quadriplegic and then a paraplegic, and had to have surgery," said Buchanan.
"He broke C3 and C4 and he's walking again, he lives in Canberra and he's got a great family so there are positives for Sam."
Buchanan said the "tragic" accident has rocked the BMX fraternity but the universal support for Willoughby has been great.
"Everyone can go onto his Road 2 Recovery page to donate, he's got a big battle now to fight to be able to walk again," she said.
"It's really good to see the support from the Australian BMX community and the goal for the Road 2 Recovery is to reach $200,000," Buchanan said. "I think it's at about $17,000 now so I encourage everyone to go on and support Sam."
The "freak accident" is a reminder of the dangers involved in extreme sports but Buchanan said such an innocuous accident could happen anywhere.
"BMX is such an unpredictable sport, it's high risk, it's an extreme sport, so these things can happen but he's got a lot of hope and a lot of support."
"When you sign up for any action sport you know the risks involved but you have just got to take precautions. Like anything it's dangerous, whether you're driving a car on the road or riding a bike on the road," she said.
Willoughby's family supplied an update at the end of last week through Cycling Australia thanking those who had left messages and donated through the Road 2 Recovery site.
"At this stage, Sam still has no movement from his chest down but has regained use of his arms and is slowly regaining some sensation in his legs."
"Sam's next step is to begin a long road of recovery at a rehabilitation centre and, while the details are still to be finalised, at this stage, it is expected that Sam will be transported to a US-based rehabilitation centre in the next few days."
Willoughby's surgery resulted in the C6 vertebrae being removed and replaced by a titanium cage.
His C5 and C7 vertebrae were also fused with a plate and four screws.
"Fortunately, this surgery was successful enough at decompressing his spinal cord and aligning his vertebrae that a second operation for further stabilisation was not necessary," the family said.
Willoughby has since been transported to a rehabilitation facility.
